Carnival Ride
by Casie01
Summary: Every year the small town of Dixon, CA has a annual May Fair. When a serial killer starts killing during the 5 days of the fair the BAU is called in to stop him. Murders are hard enough but small towns breed small town fears. What happens when a case turns dangerous for the BAU. Emily never left the BAU in this story.
1. One Year Ago

_Mother's Day 2012_

The sun set slowly in the horizon. All around him were family's laughing. Little girls begging their father's to win them one more prize. He watched as grown men spent dollar after dollar trying to knock metal milk bottles all to win a two dollar stuffed animal.

He was looking for that one special girl, he knew she was there, he could feel it inside of him. He continued to walk around the small fair grounds knowing she was close. Was she the short brunette girl begging her boyfriend not to take her on another upside down ride? Or was she the blonde one whose pig had just sold for top dollar? There were so many beautiful girls here but only one was special.

He was a patient man, he had walked around the fair more times than he could count waiting to find her. He wouldn't settle for just any girl, if he wanted to do that then he wouldn't even be here. He wouldn't even look here, he had plenty of places where he could find a girl.

Screams from one of the rides pulled his attention away from the carnival games, it was the sound of young girls screaming as the cage they were protected by whirled upside down over and over again. He smiled over at them, recognizing their screams of joy. The same kind of screams he knew he could provide.

To the men and women that walked past him he looked like everyone else. There was nothing that sat him apart from anyone else. He was someone's son, someone's friend. He was an employee, a boss, a father, a brother, an uncle. And he was a master of all those roles. He could be trusted with a wallet full of money or to pick up a neighbors child from work because they had an errand to run.

He was a nameless face in this crowd, just another man probably looking for his wife or girlfriend who found something else here to preoccupy their time.

Sounds of cars crashing from the other side of a fence interrupted his search for a brief moment. The demolition derby, could she be there? He wondered? Was she wrapped up in a blanket with the boy who promised to love her forever? He considered going to the ticket counter to buy a ticket to the show when something caught his attention.

He'd finally found her, this one was blonde. She had piercing blue eyes, they were the kind of eyes that looked in to your soul and saw who you truly were. They were the eyes he was looking for. He didn't want to hide who he was and she would see him for who he truly was.

She was standing in line with a group of girls laughing as the waited to ride the Tilt-o-whirl. Her laughter is what caught his attention first, it was like sweet music in his ears. First the laughter then the eyes. Yes, she was the one. She was everything he was looking for and she would be his, soon.

Without being noticed he followed her from ride to ride. One time he even sat right behind her, his hand lightly grazing her shoulder as he boarded the ride. She had only smiled up at him politely saying hello. Her screams of laughter as the ride threw them up and down and in every circle imaginable brought a smile to his face. Yes, he had found her, his first assessment held true as he continued to watch her.

He was waiting for that one perfect moment when she was away from the group, he disliked finding one's in large groups like this, they were always the ones who took longer to get alone. She was worth it though, she was worth all the time in the world, and he knew soon she would be his.

The sky turned dark as the carnival lights slowly lit up the fairgrounds. This was the last night of the fair and everyone was there for one last thrill of the scrambler, one more bag of cotton candy, one last look at the lambs students from the FFA and 4H had raised over the last year. Soon the fair would be just another memory in the books of this town.

It finally happened with just an hour left till closing he caught the chance he was waiting for. He knew his chance would come it just took longer than he had hoped. He walked quietly behind her as she made her way to the stables alone. She needed to get her uniform that had been left at her pigs stall. She smiled at the pictures of her pig she had taken. She knew when she bought him it was so he could be sold at the fair. She knew she was going to be someone's dinner and that was ok. It was a part of farming, her daddy had taught her long ago to respect the land and the animals who provided the nourishment they received, but that didn't make selling Piggy any easier.

"Hi there! You alright?" He smiled at her, his smile instantly putting her at ease.

"Yeah." She smiled at him and grabbed her jacket and pants, knowing if her parents had to buy another jacket they would kill her. "Enjoy the fair?"

He only smiled at her and put a soft arm around her shoulder, offering to walk her back to her group.

Rebecca never made it back to her group that night. That night she had screamed as loud as she could praying someone could find her. He had done things to her that she prayed she could survive, that she prayed wouldn't leave scars permanent scars, and not just the kind that are visible.

Rebecca didn't need to worry about that though, when he was done he took off the purple and pink plaid shirt she loved so much replacing it with her FFA Jacket, the one her parents made her work down at Dawson's every weekend to pay for. When she was redressed he bent down to kiss her one last time before plunging the knife deep into her heart. He watched the look of terror in her eyes as she took her last breath. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

He zipped up her jacket and carefully picked her limp body up. Tonight she joined a small group of just four other girls whose lives he touched. He had loved each of them and made sure they would never love another the way they loved him.

"_God put us here on this carnival ride. We close our eyes never knowing where it will take us next. Babies are born and at the same time, someone's taking their last breath"_

_Carrie Underwood – Wheel of the World_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N This is my first Criminal Minds Fanfiction. This is going to be JJ centric but will feature all team members. I've only seen a few episodes of season 8 but don't really care for Alex Blake so she doesn't exist and Emily never left the team after Will and JJ got married.**

**As with all other's who write stories on here I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters. **

**Please read and review let me know what you think of this. Good or bad.**

_I fear the carnival of crime is beginning on our border._

_-Edward Blake_

_May 9, 2013 – Quantico Virginia_

The usual busy streets of Washington DC were all but abandoned save for the loan black SUV speeding down the quite streets. SSA Jennifer Jareau was hoping the microwaved coffee she had managed to gulp down before leaving the house would kick in soon. It wasn't often the BAU was called to a case at two in the morning, but when they did they knew it would be a bad one.

Just a mere thirty minutes ago JJ was wrapped up in Will's arms in the warm safety of their bed, when her dreams were interrupted by the emergency tone on her cell phone. Will had groaned in her ear as he reached over and handed her the phone.

The text message was simple and to the point, _"We caught a bad one…wheels up in thirty…PG"._

There was no time for a briefing in the round table room, no time to stop for a morning coffee, there would be no pre case teasing today. JJ turned towards her husband, "Sorry, gotta go."

"It's ok babe. Be safe ok." There were times when Will was frustrated by JJ's job. She was taken away from him and their son for days. It didn't matter if they were sitting down to a quiet family dinner or if she was playing soccer with Henry. When the phone went off she had to be there. Will had come to accept this part of their relationship, it would be the same if she was a doctor or a nurse. She like him had sworn to serve and protect, and she took her job seriously, it was part of why he fell in love with her.

She smiled at him as he told her to be safe, it was the same thing it told her before every case, he always made her promise to come back to them, even though he knew she put her life on the line every time she went into the field. "I love you." She kissed him before running to take a quick shower.

The black SUV turned into the small airstrips parking lot, joining the line of familiar cars that had beaten her to the plane. She sighed as she got her go bag from the back of the SUV. She wasn't usually the last one here, that distinction was usually owned by Rossi or Morgan, but she took those extra few minutes today to watch as her son slept, oblivious to the horror's this world held.

She climbed up the steps to the BAU's private jet with only a few minutes to spare.

"Well look who finally made it." Morgan joked with the blonde profiler, enjoying that it wasn't him that was lagging behind this early morning.

JJ glared at him for a moment before laughing and sitting next to Emily. "Well, we all can't stay out all night partying. Did you even make it home from the club?" She joked about his infamous playboy lifestyle.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell mama." Morgan quickly shot back.

"You a gentleman?" Prentiss joined in. They enjoyed one last laugh before everything turned serious.

Hotch and Rossi sat across from the younger BAU members looking over the case file. Once the plane had taken off and the jokes subsided Hotch handed a file to each of the members, just in time for Garcia's face to pop up on the computer screen.

"Good morning my pretties." No one surprised by her chipperness even at three in the morning. "Hope you packed light clothing, because you're headed out west back to the great state of California."

"Well this might not be so bad then." Morgan interrupted, "We can solve this case then spend a few days relaxing on the beautiful California coast, you ladies can work on your tans," Morgan turned to JJ and Prentiss, "and I can find me a nice California girl to enjoy the beach with."

"Slow you're roll there cowboy." Penelope quickly burst his bubble. "You may very well see some sun out there but a beach, afraid not." A map of Northern California came up on the screen.

"You're plan will be landing in Sacramento, CA where two SUV's will take you to the small town of Dixon." The map zoomed in on another spot on the map.

"Where?" JJ like the rest of the team had never heard the town they were called to help.

Reid chimed in, "Dixon, California. Population at the last census was just over eighteen thousand people. It's also known as Lambtown. It's a small agricultural town along the I-80 corridor. Interestingly it's one of the only town in California that's only built up on one side of the interstate. Dixon is also one of many towns whose town's name changed slightly. Originally called Dicksonville the railroad made a mistake when and called it Dixon, and for ease the town left it that way." Reid rattled off useless facts about the town they were going to call home for this next case.

Garia interrupted his tirade, "Yeah, well ok then. Anyway. Dixon is also known for the Annual May Fair, which takes place every May in the day's leading up to Mother's Day. Dixon is a small town whose worse crimes have been High school kids having weekend bonfires followed by a night of cow tipping, or the occasional drunk and disorderly.

That is of course until last year. The first night of the fair Sarah Daniels, a 17 year old junior, went missing from the fair. Her body was found the next morning, she was missing less than twelve hours, time of death was sometime between midnight and 2 am." Two pictures came up on their screens, one was Sarah's school photo followed by a picture of her as she was found. Aside from the dark blood stain on her chest, she looked like she had been sleeping.

"She was stabbed in the heart?" Prentiss looked up from the ME's report.

"That's right cupcake. The ME found signs of a sexual assault, but cause of death was a stab wound to the heart." Garcia confirmed.

"Were they able to determine if the rape occurred pre or post mortem?" Hotch flipped through the pages of the report.

"The ME couldn't say, they believe she was alive when he…when he raped her." Garcia saw the smiling girl on the computer in front of her imagining the horror that her last few moments on earth must have been.

"Needless to say the murder was huge news in Dixon, the victim was a local girl, well known and liked. But, things didn't stop there. Every night there was another report of a girl going missing and her body found some where new the next morning." With that four more pictures popped up on their screens, girls ranging from 13 to 18, all white but some blonde with blue eyes others brunette with brown eyes.

"Why weren't we called in on this last year?" JJ inquired knowing this was exactly the kind of case the BAU was best at.

"Locals turned to the Sacramento office asking for help, they of course thought there was no need to call in the people actually trained to handle serial killers. Sacramento agents believed this unsub worked for the vendor that sets up and runs the rides."

"So they thought it was a Carnie?" Prentiss asked, already doubting that theory.

"That's right kitten, and when the last body showed up Monday morning, and no other girls went missing they quickly patted themselves on the back and waited for a murder with the same MO to occur at another fair. And no, no other such murder or kidnapping occurred. And don't worry boss man I'm already looking into other fairs across the state and country to see if anything matches our unsub." Garcia interrupted Hotch before he could even give his first order.

"Now, as I'm sure you've already figured out, we have another victim. Last night was the first night of the fair and we've already got a missing girl." Garcia confirmed what they already knew, "This is Katie Samuels, 18 year old senior. She was at the fair with her boyfriend. He had left her in line to get a funnel cake to talk to some of the other guys on the football team. When he went back to find her, she was gone." The all noticed the sad look on Garcia's face. It was three in the morning by Washington time, that meant if Katie was still alive she wouldn't be for much longer.

_ "We can't know why the lily has so brief a time to bloom in the warmth of sunlight's kiss upon its face before it folds into its fragrance and bids the world good night to rest its beauty in a gentler place. But we can know that nothing that is loved is ever lost and no one who has touched a heart can really pass away because some beauty lingers on in each memory of which they've been a part." -Ellen Brenneman_


End file.
